An Unusual Pairing?
by VFFW
Summary: Reddington wanted something from Meera and he never does anything straightforward. She was patient, she could wait.


Meera Malik never forgot how she first met Raymond Reddington. She'd been pulled from the CIA to work with the FBI on Reddington's so called 'blacklist'. They'd met in the garage attached to the Post Office. He pegged her as CIA right off.

"What does the CIA look like?" she asked him.

"Attractive, but treacherous."

"Well, I guess we'll find out won't we?"

That night she worked a party protecting Floriana Campos. Instead of being a humanitarian trying to stop human trafficking everyone found out she was a trafficker, the head of the Eberhard Cartel. Her opinion of Reddington shifted when she and Ressler opened the back of the container and saw all those girls.

She paid attention to how he treated everyone. His condescending tone when dealing with Cooper or Ressler. His almost paternal treatment of Keen. Reddington really didn't interact with Aram that much so she thought that Reddington pretty much dismissed him. Reddington basically ignored her. She was fine with that. She did her job.

Meera Malik was pretty sure that she hated Raymond Reddington a little when he had her tortured. She could understand why and she even took responsibility for requesting the quotes for upgrades to the Post Office. Because she understood why he did it she helped him obtain the information he was seeking and not just because he was going to kill her. Some of her colleagues had died when Anslo Garrik invaded the Post Office.

They met the night she acquired the information. He flipped to the page she told him about and looked at the signature.

"Our business is concluded, Agent Malik," Reddington told her and walked back to his car. She knew that Diane Fowler was dead the moment he saw her signature. Several weeks later Cooper asked her to investigate Diane's death. Just as suddenly he told her to turn over all of her findings. Cooper must have been removed from the investigation.

After closing the Cyprus Agency case Cooper came up to her while she was looking at the board filled with all the information and told her that he hated working with Reddington, but without his help they never would have solved this case. Meera said nothing just continued to look at the board. She went home.

Meera found out that she liked working Reddington's blacklist. True, this wasn't her area of expertise, but she was adaptable. It's what made her such a good CIA agent. Reddington was an interesting criminal. She knew that these particular people were targeted for a reason. Reddington always had an ulterior motive even if it involved Elizabeth Keen. Meera had her suspicions regarding the relationship between Reddington and Keen. When Reddington was around she watched him. He knew she did and she was waiting for him to call her on it. He hadn't yet, but that didn't mean he wouldn't sometime in the future. Or maybe not.

She wasn't so naïve as to think that Reddington didn't know everything about her. The fact that he cornered her in her home was testament to that. The first indication that he wanted her to do something else for him came when she found the flowers. They were beautiful lilies. Her ex hadn't given them to her. They had a civilized divorce and were still friendly, because of their daughter, but he'd never given her flowers the entire time they were married. Only one man would do that. She was a little sad that Reddington had stooped to such a meaningless display and put it out of her mind.

Several weeks after the flowers arrived Meera was walking to her car when she saw someone in the shadows. She continued walking like nothing was wrong. Putting her coat on her other arm and reaching for her keys she drew her weapon. After the Anslo Garrick episode she was cautious. Dembe stepped from the shadows. "Mr. Reddington would like to speak with you," he indicated the car that was at the other end of the garage.

Meera and Dembe walked to the car and he opened the back door. After she got in the car he shut the door and got in the driver's seat.

Meera looked at Reddington while Reddington looked at her. "I was wondering, Agent Malik, if you'd like to have dinner with me this evening," Reddington asked her. Meera was shocked but didn't let that show in her face or eyes.

"Why?" she asked him after a few moments. He was hard to read when he wasn't taunting Ressler and Cooper.

"Because I'd like to get to know you better," he responded.

"I'm sure you already know everything about me, Reddington."

He sighed. "Some things don't translate well from reports," he smirked. "I prefer personal interaction." They sat in the back of his car staring at each other, sizing each other up.

"Did you need to pick up your torturer first?"

Reddington laughed. "No. I believe I'll save that for another time. Well, Meera, dinner? Oh, you can put your weapon away. If I'd wanted to kill you I would have done so by now."

She put her gun away and agreed to dinner. This should be interesting. They didn't say anything to each other as Dembe drove them to the restaurant. Of course Reddington already had reservations. Meera took in the elegant surroundings wondering what they were going to talk about. Reddington always had an agenda and she wondered how she fit into it. They were seated in the back with a waiter not far behind them.

They ordered dinner and sat back staring at each other. "Well," Reddington started off, "this will be a test of my conversational abilities. What could we possibly say to each other?"

"Why don't you start off with what you want me to do for you," Meera said.

Reddington sipped some of his wine. She didn't order any as she wanted to be clearheaded for what he had to say. "Agent Malik, can't I just want to spend some time with a beautiful woman?" he drawled.

"I'm sure you could, Reddington. What do you want from me?" she repeated her question.

"Did you like the flowers? Roses are so overdone. I thought you would like the lilies better," Reddington ignored her question.

"Yes, they were lovely, thank you. What do you want?"

Reddington continued to ignore her question and proceeded to talk about the weather, places he'd visited, food he'd eaten. Meera noticed that dates were not mentioned so she couldn't track his whereabouts. He never asked any personal questions about her, her daughter or her ex-husband. He knew she wouldn't answer. She told him about some of the places she'd visited without giving dates either. Meera noted the time when the waiter came over and asked about dessert. She was somewhat surprised to see that they'd been dining for a few hours. Reddington was quite the conversationalist she'd give him that much.

"Dessert, Meera?" Reddington asked her.

"No, thank you. It's late," she said.

Reddington waved the waiter off, stood and pulled out her chair so she could get up. Coats were collected and they left. Dembe opened the back door to the car shut it after she got in, opened the door for Reddington then went to the driver's side. He started the car and drove to her house. Reddington looked at her. "I've had your car taken to your house, so you wouldn't have to worry about it, Agent Malik."

"Of course you did," she said underneath her breath. Reddington laughed a little. "Thank you for accepting my invitation, Meera. I quite enjoyed myself this evening," he said as they pulled in front of her house. "We should do this again." Dembe got out and opened her door. Meera got out and went inside. She noticed that Reddington didn't leave until she entered. Interesting piece of information that. When she got ready to leave for work the next day she saw a vase of lilacs on her kitchen table.


End file.
